An Adventurous Trip into the Unknown
by koolkat21
Summary: When the Phillips gang suddenly meet someone due to an accident, they're happy, except for Annie and Jack who think something weird is going on....Note: Now FINISHED!!:-D
1. Default Chapter

It was another day on the Phillips tour bus and a great one so far. Ned was driving as usual, Molly was in her room practicing her music, Clu, Carey and Jack were watching a a video and Annie was reading a book. Everything was going fine- until it started storming outside that is. Annie looked from her book and looked out of the window seeing nothing but rain and wind.  
  
"Whoa it's really bad out there," she said.  
  
"Aw, man the t.v. is getting all snowy like," Clu commented hitting the t.v.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure that it's just a short storm." Jack said.  
  
"Yeah, everything should be back to normal in no time," Carey stated.  
  
"I don't know guys, it looks pretty bad," Annie replied.  
  
"Annie, don't worry, everything will be fine. Ned's been driving for years. I'm sure he knows what he's doing," Jack responded, walking back to his room.  
  
"Dang it!"  
  
"What's wrong, Ned?" Molly said coming up behind him.  
  
"It's this storm," he replied. "Can barely see anything in front of my face."  
  
"Well can you make it to the next town you think?"  
  
"I don't know, I- SHOOT!!!!"  
  
Suddenly he swerved when he saw what looked like a huge animal in the road, throwing everyone in the bus around. Ned tried to keep the bus on the road, but ended up in a ditch instead. When everything was calm again, the animal, which had big glowing eyes, walked off calmly and quietly.  
  
Ned took a deep breath and turned to Molly. "You allright?"  
  
Molly got up slowly. "Yeah. You?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Meanwhile, the kids in the back got up slowly wondering what happened.  
  
"Dude, what's up with that?" Clu said.  
  
"I don't know," Carey replied.  
  
"Is everyone allright?" Annie asked.  
  
"Yeah," Clu said.  
  
"All in one piece," Carey stated.  
  
"Yeah, me, too," Annie said. "Wait a minute, where's Jack?"  
  
"I don't know. He was here a minute ago," Clu said.  
  
"Guys, come quick!" Carey yelled, loud enough for everyone on the bus to hear.  
  
Clu and Annie ran to where he was and found him standing over an unconscious Jack.  
  
"Oh my god! Jack? Jack, wake up!" Annie responded.  
  
Suddenly, Molly and Ned came running to the back.  
  
"Guys?" Molly said. "What's- Jack!!"  
  
"He's out cold for awhile it looks like. That cut on his head seems pretty nasty," Carey said, pointing to Jack's head which had a huge gash on it, which had blood trickling down the side of his face.  
  
Molly, looking concerned pushed back his hair on his forhead. "Jack? Can you hear me, baby?"  
  
"Excuse me, are you folks allright in here?" a middle aged woman said coming into the bus. "Sorry, don't mean to intrude, but I live across the road there and saw what happened and wondered if you needed any help."  
  
"Yes, my son, he's hurt and I don't know how bad," Molly said, shaking.  
  
"Well, I'm a retired nurse. Why don't you bring him over to my house and I'll check him out."  
  
Everyone agreed and followed her to her house, Jack being carried by Carey, glad to have help so soon. But no one could expect what was to about to come.. 


	2. The discovery

About ten minutes later everyone was waiting outside if a room Jack was in all wondering if her was going to be all right. The woman then came out and closed the door behind her.  
  
"Is Jack going to be all right?" Molly asked.  
  
"He should be. He just has a mild concussion and a broken rib. Bur he should be fine if he rests for a couple of days."  
  
Molly nodded. "All right. I have a concert tomorrow but I 'll post pone it."  
  
"Gonna have to anyway," Ned stated. "I need to fix the bus. There's a couple things wrong with it."  
  
"Well you folds stay here as long as you need to. There's plenty of room," the woman said.  
  
"Thank you," Molly replied. I'm sorry, I never got your name."  
  
"Oh, pardon my manners. I'm Gina Bass."  
  
"Hi, I'm Molly Phillips, and this is Clu, Carey, Annie, the guy who just went outside is Ned, and my son's name is Jack."  
  
"Nice to meet you all. And Ms. Phillips I just wanted to say that I know you work and you're very talented."  
  
"Thank you. And in that case, I would like you and you family to be special guests at my next concert."  
  
"Oh, Ms. Phillips, thank you, but-"  
  
"No buts. You helped my son and you're offering you home to us. Please, it's the least I could do."  
  
Gina nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Phillips."  
  
Molly smiled. "You're welcome. And please, call me Molly. Um, can we see Jack?"  
  
"Oh, of course."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Everyone then walked in and found Jack lying unconscious on the bed with a big band aid on his head. They all then crowded around his bed and Molly sat down beside him.  
  
"Dude, he looks so pale," Clu said.  
  
"What, do you expect him to look like a million bucks?" Carey replied.  
  
"Well, no, he's never looked like that."  
  
"Very funny," Jack replied in a weak voice as he was coming to.  
  
"Honey? How do you feel?" Molly asked.  
  
"Like a bowling ball hit my head."  
  
"Jack, what happened? How come you're the only one who got hurt?" Annie asked.  
  
"I don't know," Jack replied, looking confused, "I was looking outside and- Uh, I mean the bus swerved and I got thrown against something hard."  
  
"Must have been," Molly replied. "I mean you got a concussion and a broken rib."  
  
Jack looked a bit uneasy witch caught Annie's eye right away. "Are you sure that's all that happened, Jack?"  
  
"Yeah, Annie, I'm sure."  
  
"Well, we'll leave you alone so you can rest, sweetie," Molly said, giving him a kiss on his head.  
  
"Sure thing, mom."  
  
"Sweet dreams, dude!" Clu said, following Molly and Carey out the door.  
  
Annie stayed behind and when the coast was clear shut the door.  
  
"Yes, Annie, may I help you?" Jack said, annoyed.  
  
"Jack, something more than what you said happened, didn't it?"  
  
"No, Annie it didn't."  
  
"Than how do you explain what happened?"  
  
"Um, a car accident?"  
  
"Jack, come on if you don't tell me what happened then I'll go investigate."  
  
Jack sighed. "Do you hound all guys when they're down? All right, fine. But this stays quiet."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"Okay, I was going back to my room when I thought I saw something outside. So I went to look and then the bus crashed, only, I felt like a greater force had pushed me somehow."  
  
"What did you see outside?"  
  
"I don't know. I think it was a woman."  
  
"Strange."  
  
"Yeah, you know, that is strange."  
  
"Really? You think so?"  
  
"No, Annie, I don't. The force I just felt could have been the bus swerving plan and simple."  
  
"Jack, come on. I mean, I was like a foot away from you and nothing happened to me. And I was by more things that could have hurt me."  
  
"Well, I'm a klutz, what can I say?"  
  
"Come on, Jack."  
  
"Annie, just leave it alone. Don't be turning this into something. You always do."  
  
"What did the woman look like?"  
  
"I don't know, a woman. Like you. Only probably not quite as annoying."  
  
"Yeah, but what did she look like?"  
  
"Well, I would have let you known, but then I lost consciousness."  
  
"Did she look at you?"  
  
"I don't know, Annie, I couldn't see that well. It was storming you know."  
  
"But-"  
  
"Annie, please, just let it go."  
  
"You know I can't do that, Jack."  
  
Jack sighed. "Fine. Just, if you have to investigate, don't do it know, when it's dark outside. Because if by some very small chance, there is something going wrong out there, then I don't want you mixed up in it."  
  
"Oh, so you do think something is going on, eh?"  
  
"No, Annie. I don't. Now please, just drop it. Or at least until morning, anyway."  
  
"Fine. But I can't make any promises," she said, going out the door. "Goodnight."  
  
"Yeah, I hope it is." ** About a couple of hours later, Jack woke up to a noise outside of his window. He groaned and slowly got out of bed trying to ignore the pain of his rib. "Probably Annie. I wish she would just leave it alone."  
  
He then walked to the window and saw an animal walking around outside his room. An animal what looked like- a tiger?  
  
"A tiger. Why would there be a tiger outside in the wilderness where we're at?" Jack wondered.  
  
Suddenly, he saw a young girl come out with some meat on a plate and walked up to the tiger. She made it sit, and then fed the meat to it. Curious, Jack opened the window an inch so he could hear what they were saying and heard the girl speaking.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, mother can never take you away from me. As soon as I figure out a way, we'll be together forever."  
  
Jack, being confused and thinking that that was weird, tried to back away quietly but accidentally hit a table and broke a bowl on it. The girl looked up to where Jack was and right in front of Jack's eyes disappeared in a gust of wind. 


	3. The Truth

Sunlight poured through Jack's room that morning as Jack slowly woke up and put his arm over his eyes to shield the brightness. He then slowly got out of bed and made his way over to the window, remembering what had happened the night before. He peeked out the window and shook his head when he saw nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"It was just a dream, that's all," he said to himself.  
  
About ten minutes later he made his way down the stairs and found everyone in the kitchen eating breakfast.  
  
"Morning all," he said grabbing a chair and sitting down- only a bit too fast. He winced and then slowly sat down and not but a second later hearing his mother's voice.  
  
"Jack, honey, what on earth do you think you're doing?" Molly said.  
  
"Uh, eating breakfast?"  
  
"Jack, you're in no condition to be up and around. You should be in bed, resting."  
  
"Mom, look, I'm not going to lay around like some lifeless creature. I couldn't stand it. And I feel fine."  
  
Molly glanced a yeah-right look his way and folded her arms. "Right. And that's why I just heard you moan in pain when you sat down."  
  
"Mom, please, I'm not a little boy anymore. I'll be fine. Look, I promise I'll be careful and not do any strenuous activities for the next few days. All right?"  
  
Molly sighed. "Fine. Just please be careful."  
  
"Don't worry, mom. I will."  
  
Jack then took the juice pitcher and was getting ready to pour him some juice but dropped it in shock when he suddenly saw the girl from the night before standing in front of him.  
  
Clu looked at the ground and groaned. "Aw, man you got my shoes all wet, dude!"  
  
"Jack, what on earth was that all about?" Molly asked.  
  
Jack and the girl stared at each other for a few seconds and Jack got up from the table. "Uh, sorry, mom. I uh, just- the pitcher slipped out of my hands. And Clu sorry about the shoes, uh, I'm going to go get some fresh air outside."  
  
"But honey, what about breakfast?"  
  
"Uh, I guess I'm not that hungry, after all. See ya later," he replied darting out the door.  
  
"Well that was strange," Molly stated.  
  
"Yeah, a little too strange," Annie said. "Uh, I'm going to go see if he's all right."  
  
"Okay, thank you honey."  
  
"No problem."  
  
She then went outside to find Jack walking around and then pacing back and forth.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
Jack suddenly stopped. "Annie, I'm fine. Just go back to your breakfast."  
  
"What went on in there?"  
  
"What, you mean when I dropped the juice pitcher? You know, that was weird. Maybe an evil spirit came and smacked it right out of my hands!"  
  
Annie rolled her eyes in disgust. "Jack, when Melanie came in the kitchen, you got startled and dropped it."  
  
"Exactly. She startled me, Annie. That's it. And who is Melanie?"  
  
"She's Gina's daughter."  
  
"Gina?"  
  
"Oh right, I guess you weren't conscious when she took care of you. She was the one who helped us out when the bus crashed. And she's a retired nurse, so she helped you out."  
  
"Right. Anyway, nothing's wrong. So if you don't mind, then I'm going to go for a walk."  
  
"I know that you were up last night."  
  
Jack turned around suddenly. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, I heard you. My room is right next to yours. Did something happen last night with Melanie?"  
  
"No. You probably just heard me going to the bathroom."  
  
"I can see the bathroom from where I'm at. I never saw you go in it."  
  
"Well, maybe you fell asleep before you did."  
  
"Jack, come on! Why do you always have to be so stubborn? Just tell me what happened!"  
  
"Nothing happened, Annie, now for the last time, leave me alone!"  
  
"Fine, I'll just go find out for myself."  
  
Jack stopped in his tracks and stopped Annie. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I'll just go ask Melanie what happened. I mean, it seems that by the looks you two were giving each other that something happened between you two last night."  
  
"No! I mean uh, don't, please."  
  
"Why? What are you hiding?"  
  
Jack sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone else."  
  
"Deal."  
  
"All right, well last night I heard a noise outside my window. So I get up to see what it was and saw."  
  
"What?"  
  
"-A tiger."  
  
"A tiger?"  
  
"Yeah. And then dear old Melanie appears. And starts talking to it after she feeds it some meat."  
  
"What did she say?"  
  
"I don't know. Something about how she'd figure out a way to fix things and that she wouldn't let her mother keep them apart. Then I accidentally nock something over, she sees me and then disappears in a gust of wind."  
  
Annie's mouth was now hanging wide open. "Strange."  
  
"You know, it was probably just a dream. I've had weirder dreams before."  
  
"Then how do you explain me hearing you break something?"  
  
"Maybe we were dreaming together!"  
  
Annie rolled her eyes. "Jack, come on. Get real."  
  
"No, you see, that's what you should be doing if you actually think that this happened."  
  
"Jack I- get down!"  
  
She pulled him down with her behind a haystack when she saw Melanie come out of the house. They both watched her curiously as she looked around to make sure the coast was clear and made her way into a shed.  
  
"Come on," Annie said, going to it.  
  
"Annie!" Jack said, sounding annoyed as he unwillingly followed her.  
  
They both made their way to the shed and Annie opened it a cracked and peeked inside with Jack over her shoulder.  
  
"Annie, why-"  
  
"Shhhh!"  
  
They both were quiet, when to suddenly their surprise, they saw her open a book, which produced a bright light. "Don't worry, my darling, I soon will have a spell that will break you free."  
  
"Spell?" Annie repeated, softly.  
  
Suddenly a huge gust of wind started up almost blowing Annie and Jack away and in it appeared Gina.  
  
Melanie turned around startled. "Mother! What-"  
  
"What are you doing in here, Melanie?"  
  
"Nothing! I, uh, was just looking up a spell."  
  
"You've been spending a lot of time in here lately."  
  
"Well, I just want to be as good as you, mother. You know how slow I can be at times."  
  
"Yes, true. All right, I'll believe you for now. But we have guests now. We don't want them to be curious."  
  
"Why did you even invite them in?"  
  
"Because, I'm not totally cold hearted, Melanie! Now come inside an keep things quiet until they leave."  
  
Melanie sighed. "Yes, mother."  
  
"And after they leave, you and I are going to have a talk, young lady."  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Your attitude."  
  
"My attitude? What are you talking about?"  
  
"We'll talk about it later, Melanie."  
  
"What?! You can't just drop something like that on me and then dismiss it for later! I want to talk now!"  
  
"Melanie!! I'm warning you!!"  
  
"What, what are you going to do? Turn me into some kind of animal like you did Adam?"  
  
"Melanie, if you even breath a word of that to anyone, then we are ruined, do you understand me?"  
  
"Then why did you do it mother?"  
  
"You know why. He wasn't good for you."  
  
"Well no one ever is in your eyes, mother."  
  
With that she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Gina sighed, and disappeared right after her in the same way.  
  
Jack and Annie stood there frozen for a few minutes and then stared at each other in shock.  
  
"Now don't tell me there's a logical explanation for this, Jack," Annie said. "You know that what you saw last night wasn't a dream."  
  
Jack nodded, still shocked. "Uh, yeah, I guess. But who, what are those people?"  
  
"I think I have a pretty good idea, but I'm going to e-mail Fi to make sure." ** About ten minutes later, Annie found Jack in his room and sat down next to him.  
  
"Well, what did Fi say?" Jack asked her.  
  
"Witches."  
  
Jack's eyes widened. "Witches? I thought those were back in the 1600s in Salem or something."  
  
"Well, Gina and Melanie were back in that time. They almost got caught and hung, but managed to escape. And when people went to search for them, they made them think that they were dead by staging a fake burial and even having their own tombstones. So after that, no one looked for them again. And since witches are immortal, then of course they've lived here ever since they ran away back in the 1600s."  
  
"Whoa. And the tiger?"  
  
"Well, legend has it that he was Melanie's fiancée. She was supposed to marry someone else, like an arranged marriage I guess, but secretly fell in love with Adam Thomas, and when her mother found out, turned him into a tiger for all of eternity. And ever since then, she's been trying to figure out a way to bring him back."  
  
"Wow, that's uh."  
  
"Weird?"  
  
Annie and Jack turned suddenly and saw none other than Melanie standing before them. 


	4. Closer to the edge

Note: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! I'll try to keep the story as interesting as I can until it is completely finished!:-D  
  
Jack and Annie froze, wondering what Melanie was going to do or say next. But surprisingly, she came in closing the door behind her and sat down on the bed.  
  
Annie, still shocked, decided to try and explain. "Uh, Melanie-"  
  
Melanie held her hand up and shook her head. "Annie, it's okay. You don't have to explain anything. So you know that my mother and me are witches. Big deal. It's about time someone found out."  
  
"So you don't care that we mortals know?"  
  
"No. The only reason why my mother cares is because she still thinks that someone is going to come get us and hang us."  
  
"What? That's crazy. They haven't done that since like the 1600s," Jack stated.  
  
"I know. And I told her that, but she still doesn't feel completely safe."  
  
"But how would anyone know that you're witches? I mean, that doesn't make any sense."  
  
"I don't know. I stopped trying to figure out mother a long time ago. I guess she's just afraid that someone could find out some how."  
  
"You mean, like we did?"  
  
"Yeah. Only, I guess she didn't see you as a threat for some reason. And I guess the more she does some good humanity, the less suspicious people will be. I mean, aside from the hanging thing, she doesn't want people to know anyway. Because even if people don't hang witches anymore, then she said it would be bad news for people to find out."  
  
"Well, do you care that we know? I mean, we would never say anything about it," Annie said.  
  
"Oh, don't worry, I believe you. Just don't say anything more about it. Not even between the two of you. Because you never know who might be listening."  
  
"Like you, for example?"  
  
Melanie smiled. "Yeah. Just thank your lucky stars that it was me and not mother."  
  
"Yeah, thank goodness for that. One more question though, what are you planning to do about Adam?"  
  
Melanie's eyes grew wide. "How do you know about Adam?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking that it was a bit of a clue when I saw you talking to him the other night outside of my window," Jack replied.  
  
"And we know the whole story, about how he was your one true love and how your mother turned him into the tiger," Annie added.  
  
Melanie started rubbing her fists together tensely. "How did you find out all of this?. Oh my god, you talked to mother, didn't you? You're on her side, aren't you? What kind of sick game are you guys playing here?!"  
  
"No! Melanie, we haven't talked to your mother! We-"  
  
Suddenly Gina appeared in the doorway, which startled everyone.  
  
"Well, Melanie, I see you're getting to know our guests better. So what's the topic of conversation in here?" she said.  
  
"Uh, nothing, I was uh, just trying to talk the girls into playing a game of baseball with me, Clu, and Carey," Jack replied quickly.  
  
"Baseball? Oh, how nice! Melanie why don't you go play with them. I'm going to go cook lunch with Molly and then we'll call you kids in when it's ready. Sound good?"  
  
Everyone just nodded and smiled, not quite sure what to say.  
  
"Good. I'll see you kids later," she said, going out the door.  
  
"Dear god, it's like she's keeping watch on me 24/7 or something," Melanie commented.  
  
"Don't worry, I'm sure she didn't hear anything, right?" Annie asked.  
  
"No. If she did then she would let us know, believe me."  
  
"Well, okay. Let's go play some baseball, then," Jack stated.  
  
"Wait a minute, I don't think Molly is going to let you play something like that when you're still recovering," Annie said.  
  
"Annie, chill. I actually feel fine. And I promised that I wouldn't do anything strenuous for a while. I'll just be the catcher or something. Now let's go. We don't want her mother to get suspicious." **  
  
About fifteen minutes later, Jack, Annie, Melanie, Clu, and Carey were all out playing baseball together. It was Melanie's turn to bat right after Carey had made a homerun, and obviously hadn't played before to Jack's noticing.  
  
"Uh, Melanie, have you ever played baseball before?" he asked.  
  
"Um, no, not really. What gave me away?"  
  
"Well for starters," Jack said, taking the bat from her and flipping it, "you were holding it upside down."  
  
"Oh. Well what do I do, just swing it?"  
  
"When the ball comes towards you, you would want to make contact, yes. Just bend your knees slightly, hold the bat with your hands like this," he stated placing her hands in the correct position. "Then when the ball comes toward you, swing with all your might. Got it?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so."  
  
"Good. Okay, ready, Clu!"  
  
Clu nodded and threw the ball Melanie's way. And much to everyone's surprise she hit it- very hard. In about five seconds it went from the bat clear up in the sky and out of sight.  
  
"Dude! What do you have, some kind of magical powers or something?" Clu said.  
  
Melanie looked at him with wide eyes and was getting ready to say something when Jack put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
"He doesn't know anything. It's just a figure of speech. Trust me."  
  
Melanie nodded, and suddenly heard Molly's voice from the house.  
  
"Time for lunch, kids!"  
  
"Okay, mom, we'll be there in a minute!" Jack yelled back. "Melanie, don't worry. Everything's all right. Only Annie and me know. That's it. Your secret is safe with us."  
  
Melanie nodded. "I believe you."  
  
"Good. Let's go eat then." **  
  
About ten hours later, Annie, Jack, and Melanie went off to a separate room, Annie pulling her aside to talk.  
  
"Melanie, we want to help you with Adam. Are you going to be-"  
  
Suddenly Molly came in and smiled at them. "Are you guys going to bed soon? It's kind of late."  
  
"Yeah, don't worry, mom. We'll be up in a second," Jack stated.  
  
"Okay. Good night then. And make sure you don't get to bed too late, Jack. You're still healing remember?"  
  
"I know, mom. Don't worry."  
  
"All right. Good night, baby," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight guys," she said to the other two before going upstairs.  
  
"'Night, Molly," Annie replied. As soon as the coast was clear, she turned back to Melanie, who was now gone. "Where'd she go?"  
  
"I don't know," Jack replied.  
  
"Wait a minute, I bet I know!"  
  
She started running to the door, Jack rolling his eyes and sighing. "Annie, come on, just leave her alone!"  
  
He sighed and reluctantly followed her, both of them soon ending up in the back of the house, seeing Melanie feeding Adam like the night before.  
  
"Melanie, is this Adam?" Annie said.  
  
Melanie looked up startled. "What are you, following me now? What if mother saw you?"  
  
"Oh, but mother already has," Gina said, coming up behind them. 


	5. Problem Solved

Jack, Annie, and Melanie all froze not sure what to say or do next. Gina just smiled and walked towards Melanie and Adam looking them both up and down.  
  
"My, my. Haven't you been keeping busy, darling. Nice to see you again, Adam. Oh, that's right. You can't talk. I forgot. So, Melanie, how long have you been keeping this little charade of yours up?"  
  
"How did you find out?" Melanie asked, looking tense.  
  
"Well, I still have my senses about things. And when I kept seeing you kids ducking in and out of rooms and spending so much time together, well, I just figured out that something was up. So I followed you all out here, and of course my suspicions are confirmed."  
  
"So? I don't care! Just leave us alone, mother!"  
  
"You know how I hate secrets, Melanie. And you and your friends have been doing nothing but. Now what should I do about that?"  
  
"Leave them alone! They're not going to harm us."  
  
"But I told you not to tell anyone about who we are. And you disobeyed me."  
  
"No, she didn't," Annie spoke up. "We figured it out for ourselves."  
  
"Really? Were we that obvious?"  
  
"No. We followed you to the shed and saw you."  
  
"You followed me?" Melanie asked.  
  
"Yeah, uh, you see-"  
  
"Well we were suspicious because I saw Melanie outside my room the other night talking to Adam here," Jack commented. "So we followed you to see if there was something going on. And we're sorry. We just had to know, I guess."  
  
"Wait a minute, you came to get us, didn't you? That whole bus thing was a scam!" Gina shouted.  
  
"No! It wasn't! Honest!"  
  
"I thought you looked like nice folks whom I could trust. But I guess I can't trust anyone these days."  
  
"Look, if it makes you feel any better, we'll leave tomorrow."  
  
"What? You think that I'm just going to let you go, just like that? So you can go telling the world about us? I don't think so."  
  
"Look, we won't tell, we promise. No one would believe us, anyway," Annie replied.  
  
"No, you see I can't believe you. I'm sorry."  
  
"Wait! You want to know why I've been so secretive from you, mother? Which of course isn't your name."  
  
"What are you babbling about, Melanie?"  
  
"You're not my mother. You're an evil spirit who took over my mother's body as far back as I can remember."  
  
"Melanie! That's preposterous!"  
  
"Is it? Because the mother I first came to know and love told me that when I found love to hold on to it, no matter who it was. My mother wouldn't turn my one true love into some creature like this. And she wouldn't threaten my friends. I've always thought that you had just changed. But I looked up some of the suspicions I had on Annie's computer and read up all about evil spirits. And you have all of the symptoms. And you're just an evil spirit who decided to get revenge on mother and I because we ran away. Isn't that right, father?"  
  
Annie and Jack stood there with their mouths open not sure what to think.  
  
"I think that this is getting a little too weird for my taste," Jack whispered to Annie.  
  
"You can't prove any of this," "Gina" said.  
  
"Oh, but I can. You never liked Adam. And you wanted me to marry Jonathan, because he lived with a rich family. And then no one would ever suspect that mother and I were witches. I just want to know one thing, why did you stay with mother if you knew? Why didn't you want to kill her like all the others?"  
  
"Gina" sighed and looked at the ground. "Because. I couldn't find anyone else like your mother. And I didn't care what she was. I loved her. And I loved you. But you decided to just go off and break my heart. I couldn't deal with that. And when I heard that you were "dead", I wanted to die myself. I started going crazy, and one night I just decided to kill myself. And then when I discovered why you had run away, and how you put me through that agony for nothing, then I wanted nothing but revenge. So one night I came here and well, became your mother."  
  
"And next time on the Weird and Wacky soap opera." Jack said.  
  
"Well, I know that you wanted revenge, but don't you love Melanie and Gina? Why would you want to hurt them so much?" Annie stated.  
  
"Like I said, they ruined my life," "Gina" replied. "I had no choice."  
  
"How could you? What mother and I did was out of love. If they had caught us, then you would have watched us die. We wanted to spare you the pain," Melanie explained.  
  
"Oh, so instead you decided to make me think you were dead? Oh, well thank you very much. But nothing can make me forgive you now."  
  
"Aw, come on. Be a pal. Remember, treat others the way you want to be treated," Jack said.  
  
Annie gave a look Jack's way. "Jack, what are you doing?"  
  
"Yeah, you think that this is funny, young man?" "Gina" said, walking towards him and getting right in front of his face.  
  
"Uh, no, sir. I just think that taking over someone's body is a little, well, weird," Jack replied, not of course remembering that time when the wil 'o the wisp had taken over his body.  
  
"Well then, maybe you won't think that this is weird," he said picking up Jack by his shirt, making Jack's eyes widen.  
  
"Father! No! Put him down! Please!" Melanie screamed.  
  
"It's guys like this that I wanted you to stay away from. All guys like this are poison!" he said throwing Jack about thirty feet away- up on the roof.  
  
"Jack!" Annie yelled, looking up at him.  
  
"Uh, did I mention that I have a thing about heights?" Jack commented in scared voice.  
  
"Get him down!" Annie screamed.  
  
"Silence!" he said, holding his hand up and throwing her back on the ground.  
  
"Leave them alone!" Melanie said, trying to do some magic as well, only nothing.  
  
"Gina" laughed smugly. "Your magic can't work on me."  
  
Annie got up and ran over by Melanie's side. "Melanie, your mother has to believe in herself. She has to defeat your father, herself in order to get him out of her!"  
  
"No, I am the most powerful!!" he said, waving his arms and making the wind kick up heavily.  
  
The wind made the part of the roof Jack was on crack, making him fall a little and hold on to the edge tightly.  
  
Annie looked up to where Jack was and began to panic. "Melanie, tell your mother! Tell her she has to believe in herself!"  
  
Melanie hesitated a second and spoke up. "Mother, if you're in there, listen to me! You have to defeat him! Trust and believe in yourself! Don't let him defeat you! Remember how you always told me to be a strong, independent woman? Well I learned how to do that from you! Now be that same mother that I know and love. Be strong!! Please, believe in yourself!!"  
  
"Gina" began laughing again and held up his hand. "Time to say goodbye to your little friend," pointing it up towards Jack, who was struggling to hang on as it became much harder to.  
  
"MOTHER!!" Melanie pleaded.  
  
Suddenly a bright light shown, and Melanie's father screamed, and then fell down, everything then growing calm.  
  
Melanie went over to Gina and turned her over. "Mother?"  
  
She then slowly opened her eyes and smiled. "Melanie. My sweet, wonderful, Melanie. I'm here now."  
  
A tear slid down Melanie's face as she hugged her mother. "Oh, mother. I thought I would never see you again."  
  
"Um, a little help here?" Jack said, still holding on. Suddenly the side he was holding on to broke, and he screamed as he started to fall.  
  
Gina immediately ran over to him and held her hand up, making Jack fall very slowly and safely landing on the ground.  
  
"Uh, thanks," Jack said, getting a weird look on his face.  
  
Everyone just smiled, suddenly hearing a male's voice behind them.  
  
"Melanie?"  
  
Melanie turned around and screamed with nothing but joy. "Adam! You're okay!"  
  
"I guess once your father left, the spell was broken," Gina commented.  
  
"Oh, if only I had known sooner," Melanie said.  
  
"It wasn't your fault, my sweet. At least we got to see each other every day. And now we can share our love together in the right way," Adam replied, as they both kissed.  
  
Annie smiled and then walked away from everyone, a tear streaming down her face.  
  
Jack followed her and stopped her in mid-walk. "Annie, what's wrong?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. It's just, well, do you ever think I'll find someone like that? You know, and fall in love?"  
  
Jack smiled. "Annie, you're a beautiful girl. Any guy would go nuts if they had you."  
  
"Oh yeah? Then why haven't I even been kissed yet?"  
  
Jack smiled and the next second later, slowly leaned in and kissed her. After a few seconds, they parted, Annie froze in her tracks.  
  
"Jack, I- uh, you didn't have to do that."  
  
"Why not? I've always been curious to know what it would be like to kiss you, you've never been kissed, it just seemed to fit. Well, I'm going to go to bed before mom notices I'm gone. She checked up on me last night, so she probably will again tonight. I'll, uh, see you in the morning."  
  
Annie smiled. "Okay. Good night, Jack."  
  
Jack smiled back. "Good night, Annie." **  
  
The next morning, everyone gathered at the bus after Ned had fixed it, getting ready to leave.  
  
"Gina, thank you so much for letting us stay here. You have been too kind," Molly said.  
  
"Oh, it was no trouble, really. I know that if I were in the same position that I would want someone to help me."  
  
Molly smiled and they hugged each other, Melanie happily noticing right along side Adam.  
  
"Melanie, promise you'll write write me," Annie said, coming up to her.  
  
Melanie smiled and hugged her. "Absolutely. Thank you for all your help, Annie."  
  
"Anytime."  
  
"You too, Jack," she said, giving him a slight kiss on the cheek.  
  
Jack grinned and blushed a little. "Sure thing."  
  
"Hey, how come Jack always gets all the girls?" Clu stated, coming up behind them. "Am I not pretty enough or something?"  
  
"Yes, I think you're very pretty," Melanie replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek as well.  
  
Clu froze, his mouth hanging open. "Dude."  
  
Jack laughed. "Come on man, you'll be okay," he said, guiding him to the bus.  
  
Pretty soon, everyone was on the bus, which then took off a few minutes later.  
  
"Well, I guess now we can live happily ever after," Melanie said.  
  
"We sure can, honey," Gina said, putting her arm around her.  
  
"Who were those people?" Adam asked, confused.  
  
Melanie grinned. "Let's just say, a gift from God."  
  
Note: Okay, that's it! Hope it wasn't too corny or nothin'. But of course you guys can r&r to let me know how I did! And remember, this was my first So Weird fic. Thanks!!:-D 


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